


Into The Woods

by Cearon



Category: Historical RPF, Original Work
Genre: 9th Century, Alternate History, Alternate History RPF - Freeform, Amnesia, Dobermann - Freeform, Dogs, Dragons, Flashbacks, Historical Accuracy, Historical Characters - Fandom - Freeform, Historical Fantasy, M/M, Neurodiversity, Original Character(s), Original Fiction, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, POV First Person, POV Original Character, RPF, Ragnar Lothbrok - Freeform, Rare Characters, Scandinavian History, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Shapeshifting, Stranded, Survival, Vikings, Wilderness Survival, Your feedback is really welcome, doberman, historical RPF - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:14:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28199682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cearon/pseuds/Cearon
Summary: Even after having woken up without memory in the middle of nowhere and surrounded only by weird and mysterious things one has to go on. Even though I; the person in this case, has no idea what I'm going on for, since I don't remember how ended up in these unknown woods...except for some flashbacks here and there.Let's tell you my story and see if you can live it along with me. It all started with how I woke up dazed and confused, surrounded by leaves and birdsong....
Relationships: Original Male Character/Undisclosed, Reader/Undisclosed





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! (you can skip this if you want)
> 
> Welcome to this original work!  
> This is the start of a (somewhat?) mysterious historical fantasy set in the viking age. I am writing and uploading this as much as I can and am trying to keep it as historically accurate as possible besides the fantasy.  
> It seems to be going to be a pretty long story, considering how long it takes me to write (having brain damage and trouble finding and remembering words makes it a lot trickier!) and how much research I do to get the setting historically accurate (like how the backpack in chapter 3 took a full hour of research).
> 
> Criticism is welcome!  
> It is pretty impossible to be a critic of your own work so I am kindly asking you, if you'd like to spare no words to tell me what you think. I have nobody else I can ask. And I would really appreciate the time and effort of your comment(s) no matter if they are negative or positive. Please try to be kind though; if you want to tell me how my writing sucks that's fine but also tell me how or where I can improve it.
> 
> I'm not sure what I want to do about tags; suggestions are welcome.
> 
> SLOW START!  
> The story has a slow start but should have a rich world because of it. Much character and world building will be done. This is a book, not just porn with plot. Sexy chapters will come later.
> 
> Hopefully, enjoy! If not, let me know in the comments below.

I woke up lying in the leaves. Slowly my consciousness returned and with it my awareness of the world around me. I felt the wind brush past me and heard it rustle through the underbrush. In the underbrush I heard the birds sing, their singing sounded like the kind you hear in spring; loud and boisterous like they're loudly saying: "This is my bush, my territory and my mate!" or "Hear me sing, I'm strong and can sing so loud it covers my entire territory to keep other males at bay!" or maybe just a simple "Good morning! I have beautiful chicks!".  
I felt my arm move up to rub in my eyes but it bumped into my cheek instead, the impact made my still closed eyes close even more tightly. Grumbling at the clumsiness I blinked a few times, my eyes felt crummy and my vision was unclear. Groaning some at the stiffness I struggled into a sitting position and finally managed to rub my eyes. Sitting with legs outstretched wasn't comfortable at all, my knees wouldn't straighten out so I grumbled some more and finally folded my legs under me in an x-shape. Better. At least they weren't in the way like this. Having accomplished this I straightened my back and looked up.

I saw bare branches with a few little soft, young green leaves and a lot of buds that were starting to unfold. It looked like early spring. The wind was crisp but not too cold. Wait. Not cold? I was surprised and felt my head clear more. I looked down at myself. My body was dressed, kind of. What I saw were furs, I was wrapped in furs!? Why hadn't they fallen off when I sat up? No wait, it seemed the furs were wrapped around me. Clothing? I must have been more groggy than I thought if I hadn't noticed being dressed in furs when I sat up. Though now I noticed them I could feel they were very comfortable, very soft and silky. Not at all the itchiness I'd expect from furs! Now I'm not as surprised that I hadn't noticed them before. That explains it: They hadn't bothered me. Though why would clothes bother me?  
Suddenly I got a flashback to a memory: the feeling of stiff, unforgiving seams, sometimes itchy and always in the way. Creeping into cracks they didn't belong in, tight or bunching under the armpits, sliding up between legs and smothering my balls. Clammy squished balls, ulg! But this reminded me of my current situation. My balls were fine, strangely enough. Even sitting cross-legged in furs that don't stretch like clothing does they had plenty of room. No trouble under my armpits either, excellent! So, where am I?!

Coming out of my introspection I looked around me again. Seems like I'm in a beech copse. There were a lot of young low trees here though I could see some older ones beyond them. Mostly beech but some birch and pine too, not to mention the other plants. It seems familiar, Europe? Looking around me again while pondering, I tried to spot bigger animals than birds but luckily I didn't see any. Seems I'm alone here. Luckily because I don't want to run into any wild boars -they can be very dangerous. Not something I can use while I don't have any clue of what the hell is going on. 

I don't remember how I came to be here or why I'm wearing furs instead of fleece. The synthetic fleece, not the natural one. Hmm, now I remember my green-ish favorite hoody, but that's it. Weird. I place my hands behind me to rest back on them but my right hand touches something that gives way. Looking down I see a leather bag lying in the with sunlight dappled shade. It's round on one end, has some straps and ends in a stiff round point. I poke it and it gives way, it's soft and...sloshes? A water bladder?! I pick it up by the neck and look at the top, there is indeed a stopper on a string there. Handy, that way you can't drop or lose the stopper. I open it and sniff but it just smells like leather. Great. Can't smell if the water is drinkable, however the skin seems in a good condition so I'm willing to give it a try.

Before I try I look around me again as I am getting more conscious of my surroundings. Still nothing, good.  
Now, how to manage to drink from a bag that gives way in whichever way I hold it? I try supporting the end with one hand but the bag just drapes over my hand and almost spills the water! Great, no go. So I try holding only the neck -what I guess you'd call a neck- and try sucking the water upward, but the bag is too heavy and I don't have the suction power. Hmm, so how to squeeze the bag without having the water spill everywhere? I can place it on the ground and let it sink downward until the water comes up the neck, but that's impractical. There has to be a better way. Squeezing between the knees? I stopper the water skin again since I have no clue how far I am from any drinkable source to refill it, then shift the way I'm sitting until my knees stick up. Ok, so now... I remove the stopper, put the bad between my knees, bend until my mouth covers the opening and very gentry squeeze it and suck, actually slurping at the opening at the same time. Success! I let the pressure of my knees go, sit up and breathe some air past the water to breathe it out my nose and taste it. Doing this a couple of times I conclude that although it's lukewarm and doesn't taste familiar it does taste drinkable. Repeating the procedure I carefully drink a few mouthfuls.

That is much, much better. Now I feel kind of alive again, what a difference that made! Even though it was lukewarm... Speaking of which, I briefly wondered why it was lukewarm before concluding that I probably had lied against it. So now, what's next? I lied back down and only now noticed that I was lying on furs, which I somehow had managed to overlook before. At least I'm getting more clearheaded. 

I looked up at the sky, seeing fluffy clouds through the trees. This isn't helping, I felt myself get drowsy again while I should be making plans. I'd like to while the day away but I couldn't afford to lie on a pile of furs in the middle of nowhere and under the sky to boot. I had no clue where I was, let alone why I was there nor did I have any supplies besides the waterskin I found next to me. Wait... I was wearing unfamiliar clothes, maybe I could find something in them?! So I sat up again, scooted off the furs and stood up, then I brushed down my clothes -furs? 

Suddenly I heard rustling in the bushes besides me. Fuck! I froze. I hadn't seen anything before! I'd even checked and checked again. I gave myself a mental shake and quickly crouched, but before I could get myself completely riled up... A dog showed up! It was looking at me from the bushes. I didn't know what to do. Why is that dog there? Who's is it?! Is it wild? Would it attack me? My heart suddenly thundered in my chest.

The dog came out of the bushes and walked up to me, fairly relaxed and at least not hostile. Good? I relaxed somewhat and stood straight, when the dog saw that it started wagging and came up to me. 

Now I wasn't scared half out of my wits I could take a good look at it. It was a sleek shorthaired black-and-tan dog and I could swear I recognized the breed. The name was on the tip of my tongue but for the life of me I couldn't clearly remember it. Frustrating, but at least I seemed familiar with it?

"Hey boy." I said carefully despite not knowing if it was male or female. The dog started wagging harder and trotted towards me in a shallow arc, not coming directly at me but a little from the side in a clear signal of friendliness. I became pretty sure it recognized me. I let loose a big sigh.

"You scared me pretty badly there, what are you doing here?" By now the dog was almost at my side and had stopped trotting, walking up to me it looked me in the eyes and proceeded to rub their head against me. They had a collar.

"Do you recognize me?" I asked. The dog looked at me with beautiful light brown colored eyes then looked away and sat down next to me. Carefully I stuck out my hand and petted it. The wagging started again. At that point I heard more rustling in the bush and startled again. Looking up I saw another two dogs trotting toward me!

They came at me in much the same manner as the first dog and they, too had collars.


	2. Chapter 2

They came at me in much the same manner as the first dog and they, too had collars. Once they were at my feet they too came close for petting. I crouched on the balls of my feet and almost got bowled over. They made me laugh.

"Hey, easy!" I told them while laughing and suddenly got a very strong sense of dejá vù. My dogs?! They sure are friendly enough and I get the feeling they aren't like that with just anyone.

While I was crouching anyway I checked under their bellies to see how I should address them. Sure enough, the dog that first approached me was a male while the other too were females.

"So you are a boy ey!" I told him while taking his head in my hands and massaging his cheeks. He happily hung out his tongue and licked me under the chin. That made me smile again.

"So! It looks like I'm not all alone after all eh girls!" 

"Hmm?" Something caught my sight. It was the flashing of a piece of metal on one of the leather collars of the girls. Taking it into my hand I inspected it. It was a round golden-brownish disk with an engraving. Or an etching? The symbol was black and in the shape of a dragons's head.

"Dragon? Is that your name?" I checked the pendants of the other dogs. No, they all had the same etching on the front and nothing on the back. The collars weren't helpful either, besides being fairly wide, soft and supple leather they had no ornaments. 

"Great, no help there." Standing up again I remembered why I stood up in the first place. Having finally calmed down from the shock I proceeded to check my clothing. The outer layer was a long fur coat that reached until just above the knees, it had two deep outer pockets on hand-height that each held a mitten and another two pockets on my chest. In the top pockets I found two short lengths of iron, or maybe steel and a whistle.  
The coat had buttons so I undid them and found out it had an inner flap too that was held in place with leather ties, presumably to keep out drafts that could creep past the opening and buttons. Clever. No inner pockets though, maybe not too unsurprising considering there was fur on the inside too. I briefly wondered why it was so before being distracted by my belt.

And what a belt it was! More precisely it seemed to be a toolbelt as it had pouches on it in different sizes, some loops and a few flat wooden pegs that looked like wide buttons. It also had two straps over the shoulders that were connected to the main belt with buckles. Underneath it was a long tunic that had the fur turned inwards and which reached halfway my thighs with a slit on each side from the bottom until the hips.  
From what I could see of the pants without taking off the other layers they where roomy at the top, had pockets, a front flap and tapered off towards the calves. How they ended wasn't clear as I had some kind of wrapped boots on. I wiggled my toes, comfy! There was fur on the inside there too, and the outer leather seemed half greased, half not. They seemed complicated so I didn't bother with trying to figure them out right now. There were better things to do, like trying to find shelter.

Looking up I noticed that one of the dogs that looked like the male was standing halfway between me and the bushes he emerged from and was looking back at me. As I walked towards him he looked from me to the bush and back and when I reached him he walked forward into the underbrush. I wondered what was going on and decided to follow him if he didn't go too far as I still had my bedding-furs laying on the ground behind me. Just a few paces into the brush I spotted something...Lumpy? 

"You've got to be kidding me." It was a pack! That was fucking awesome! Now I hoped there was something in it and hopefully something good and or helpful. Helpful I could really use as I had found no tools so far but for the things in my top pockets.

"Good boy!" I praised my dog as I hoisted on the pack. It had a wooden frame with a big leather bundle or filled sack tied onto it. I carried it while stooped over because of the low branches back to the litte clearing where the furs and the girls were. Girls...well, female dogs are bitches essentially, but that doesn't sound nice in the least as I see or associate "bitch" with the swearword for humans ―by the way for MEN as well as women; men can be enormous bitches too, no need to differentiate in that. 

Huh, that was a weird tidbit that came drifting up from my subconsiousness. I wondered what the amnesia affected and how it worked with remembering things.

But first things first. I put the back down on the ground, sat next to it and leaned on it with an elbow. Some thinking was needed here before I would go haring off like a headless chicken and with about as much direction and sense.  
I didn't know what I had, where I was or why I was here. Hell, I didn't even REMEMBER anything! Not anything useful at least. It was frustrating. Luckily I had company; I didn't feel as alone in the world with the dogs. The weather seemed good and I was lucky it was spring and not winter! Though that was possibly or probably on purpose; though I wouldn't know unless I found out more. That thought took me back to where I started this train of thoughts.

First things first: See what I can find out in my direct surroundings. It didn't look like I had an accident. There was no high ground I could have fallen down from as far as I could see, and that was pretty decenty far considering I was in a forest and the trees were just starting to get their leaves. Could I have fallen out of a tree? Possibly, but I didn't think that was it. Though there were enough big trees further around me I woke up in a kind of little clearing between the trees and the closest trees to me were only young growth. The clearing was too small for grass but there were plenty of leaves and plants.

Could it be that I was attacked? Unlikely. as my gear was still here. Or what I supposed was my gear; the style fit with the rest of my stuff. I also didn't feel any injuries when I woke up and moved about, though I WAS dazed at first. A head injury? Amnesia was most likely caused by a blow to the head. Lifting a hand I felt my brow and carefully worked my way over my hair. The hair was long and in a low tail at the back of my head, bound by what felt like a leather string. I didn't want to mess it up too badly, not feeling like messing with the "hair-tie" to try to re-tie it and probably knot my hair up in it in the process.   
My hands felt somewhat clumsy and un-coordinated, they were able enough to get into the big roomy pockets my clothes had but I didn't want to try the laces I could see, let alone one I COULDN'T see.

As I finished the thought I finished the head inspection. No bump or sore spot to be found and no blood on my fingers either. Curiousity pricked me and I pulled my ponytail over my shoulder to look at it, as it was plenty long enough for that. The hair was pretty curly even though long and when I stretched it out  
the ends reached almost to my navel, in a tapering way like it hadn't been cut in a long while. I was clean shaven though, so I at least didn't need to be bothered with that for now. It did make me wonder what the color of my beard would be as my hair had a weird color. I couldn't describe it as red, exactly. Looking at it in the sunlight it had a golden, with sometimes a somewhat copperish gleam. It was mesmerising, seeing the curls gleam golden red-blond in the sunlight filtering through the trees around me.

A muzzle under my arm broke me out of staring at it. The dog pushed his head and neck under my arm, nuzzling my chest. Petting him I recognised him as the male by the somewhat broader collar he wore and he had a bit broader, more masculine muzzle and neck too, compared to the females. Fitting, I thought. He truly was a beautiful dog, with a sleek but still seemingly powerful muscular build. His short black hair was gleaming in the sunlight and the rust-colored patches contrasted and fitted quite nicely with the black, accentuating his build and face. What stood out though were his floppy ears. They were very cute and didn't seem to fit his warrior-like build! He looked up at me and I petted and held his head in both my hands, VERY glad he was here with me. He felt like he was my friend.  
Looking up at me with deep brown eyes it seemed like he felt my confusion. It was like I could FEEL his bond and friendship with me and his concern for me. I leaned forward, closed my eyes and nuzzled his cheek. After drawing back he licked my chin and the underside of it as I tilted my face back to avoid getting licked all over my face. I needn't have worried though, he behaved even though he was excited and only licked the underside of my chin and jaw, like he was trained to do that and not slobber all over my face.

Suddenly I saw a series of images of somebody else —a stranger— being licked all over the face by a dog that jumped up to do that and immediately after that another series of getting enthusiastically licked myself by a black-and-brown puppy with floppy ears, together with the determined feeling of teaching said puppy not to do that. Then, I was back in the present again. Being licked UNDER the chin. He stopped and looked and me, I patted him absentmindedly and he leaned against my ribs, under my arm. So...that was a flashback, I felt certain. Seems like another memory resurfaced, and this one was of him and how I wanted to raise and train him. It was good to know that he was INDEED my dog and companion, to have confirmation to the feeling that I knew him. Though I had a feeling that I was only just scratching the surface of what went on. The flashback of the stranger had a "car" in it, I remembered vaguely that it was a fast, non-living transport method. The stranger also had clothes on that were definitely not animal skins and more like the hoody I remembered before.

That triggered a picture of smooth, gleaming off-white plastic walls and a feeling of... I don't know. A lot of jumbled feelings all together. I tried to make sense of them but only felt change, confusion, confirmation and something like determination? Or more like reluctant acception? Resignation perhaps, but also strength. It was a big pile of jumbled things, like a whirlwind of feelings and impressions.

Again did my dog bring me out of the moment and into the now, by lying down on me and he surprised me by sniffing my crotch and licking it. That was weird; that he licked my clothes, though I didn't feel weirded out by him sniffing me as that is normal behavior for dogs. I accepted him as who he was: a dog, and with that his behavior. 

Why would I restrict his fundamental behavior? While I didn't want licking and wetness all over my face I accepted it for the loving behavior it was and directed it to where I could handle and wasn't bothered by it; namely the underside of my chin and jaw. I remember people being bothered and embarressed by dogs sniffing their crotches, but for them that is as normal as peeing and people weren't embaressed by that! Woa, another jumble of thoughts and impressions. That was quite enough for now. Apparently how others thought of dogs and how I thought of treating them were —sometimes?— very different.

Let's see if I can steer my thoughts back to the now. So, I am in an unknown forest, don't remember how I got here though I tried and have had no flashbacks of it. Nothing in my clothes to clue me in eiher. I'm not injured as far as I can tell but I seem to have amnesia though there are no obvious clues in the surroundings as to how or why that happened or why I'm here. Dogs found me and I found a backpack with stuff that seems to be mine. At least the male dog is mine, I feel a close connection with him; he's my partner. The females I'm not yet sure about, though that could just be because of lack of time I guess.

Should I see what's in the backpack or first take a look around if I can find some houses? For all I know I'm in a small patch of forest or a park and there are people nearby. On the other hand if I check the pack that could have clues as to what I can expect, if it's packed for wilderniss camping it's unlikely I'm close to civillacation. However, checking one of those two would take quite a bit of time and I didn't have all the time in the world as I needed to get myself sorted out before nightfall. Food and drink was as important as shelter plus I needed to see to and care about the dogs too. 

Could they hunt for their food? If not I would have a problem of feeding them, and I have no idea how to go about testing if they're trained in that. I waited... Nope, no flashbacks. So if I didn't remember if they were trained, how would I find out how and in what they were trained and what the commands were? That's a nasty puzzle, much like a question from a sphinx!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, hello and welcome to the next chapter!
> 
> Our hero is only just now going to set out to begin his epic story, or is he? What, if anything, will keep our scatterbrain this time?
> 
> [Edit:] WOW. Either I am a VERY slow writer or writing costs much, much, so much more time than I thought. I had just posted this chapter when I saw how short it was, but it took me FIVE hours to write! Still, I hope you'll enjoy!

Let's opt for leaving that topic and those thoughts alone for now. I've been doing enough thinking and it's mostly only been going in circles...and costing me-maybe precious-time. I looked at the sun. It was already past it's zenith, unstoppably moving past it's highest point and slowly but steadily sinking towards the horizon. That made up my mind.

The wood-framed backpack that I'd put on it's back on the ground at my side used leather straps with metal buckles to keep stuff and cargo in place. At the moment was the leather sack-could I call it a bag? It had a flap-strapped to it. The bag was almost completely full but seemed to have at least enough space to store the water-bladder. Good. 

Now what to do with the furs I woke up on? Onto the backpack of course. The pack has a wooden L-shaped frame with two long straps that ran from the the top, over the bag to the sticking-out part of the bottom and three shorter ones ran from side-to-side, strapped around both the bag and frame and forming a grid pattern that kept the bag-hopefuy-firmly in place. Besides the obvious shoulder straps it also has two fairly wide and long straps where the long side of the L and the short side meet. I couldn't quicky make out if they were supposed to be un-padded hip-belt straps or for lashing on loads underneath the frame. Later. All straps had buckles thoug so they could be adjusted, handy.

I stood up and went to get the furs. They were VERY furry and were quite a thick pile! Damn, they made am awkwardly thick bedroll when I rolled them up. Too thick, muck too thick. Leaves kept wanting to stick to them too. Plus the roll kept wanting to un-roll! Hmmm.... I hummed thoughtfully. Let's see where I can put them first.

The short straps that ran around the bag and wooden frame seemed the obvious choice. Sitting next to the backpack -rucksack?- I separated the furs in two piles, rolled one up and then rolled up the other one-leaves and all-while keeping a knee on the first to keep it from un-rolling.

Oh. I'd forgotten to un-buckle the straps. Fuck. Shuffling awkwardly with a roll of furs now under BOTH knees I managed to unbuckle the three straps. I took the furthest roll and put it on the pack. I had to sling one leg over the bag to keep it all in place, then after more shuffling I ended up straddling the bag with both rolls on it, sitting on top of it all and keeping some but not all of my weight on it. I didn't know if there was anything breakable in the bag, after all.

After that struggle I took a moment, breathing in deep and sighing out deeply. I looked around. Still nothing or nobody but me, birds and the dogs. The male looked up and back at me, again making me happy I wasn't completely alone even though the struggle was mine only. The females seemed to keep watch; they had their backs to me and were looking into the forest. Good.

Back to work. I started with the middle strap, which was really a belt now I thought about it. Cinching it down as tight as I could the top and bottom straps were next. Phew! 

Eh, damn. The water-bag was still unpacked and the long straps that ran over the flap of the bag were UNDERNEATH the furs! Another deep sigh followed. The water-bladder-bag-thing -what the hell should I call it anyway?- had a strap though. Good enough, that would have to do for now. And since it had a strap I'll just call it a waterbag. 

I stood up and hoisted on the pack, with much grunting, huffing and puffing. It was unwieldy. And hard against my back. My dog stood up, walked up, turned around so his nose was pointing in the same direction as mine and stood at my side, looking up at me. 

I picked up the -my- waterbag, slung it over my head and one shoulder so it rested on top of the backpack. The whole thing was heavy, and all of it resting on my shoulders. I bent over to keep more of the load on my back and less on my shoulder. The wider hip-strap-belts dangled forward from the corners and along my legs. I reached out and fumbled for them and found out I'd missed that they both had hooks and D-rings; they were a little rusty so they didn't stand out. After some more fumbling and moving the pack up my back I managed to pull them fairly tight around my hips, with one end dangling over the other. Better!

I looked around one last time, hoping that I hadn't missed something. Nothing to be seen or found. My dogs were already standing and waiting for me. I looked back at them.

"Come on, let's go!" They came and we set out towards the part of the woods that sloped upwards in a gentle hill or rise. I hoped to get at least a better view from there to hopefully get an idea that would help me make up my mind about what to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> This is my first time writing so I'm sure I'll be going over the first few chapters once my writing style has matured and settled somewhat.
> 
> I would love to hear (read!) your comments. Help, suggestions, corrections, ideas and input are always welcome.
> 
> I hope to see you next time and until then, fare well!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> This is my first time writing so I'm sure I'll be going over the first few chapters once my writing style has matured and settled somewhat.  
> I would love to hear (read!) your comments. Help, suggestions, corrections, ideas and input are always welcome.
> 
> I hope to see you next time and until then, fare well!


End file.
